Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/system/dircmdr1.zip/DIRCMDR.DOC

Text File | 1991-07-01 | 10KB | 214 lines

                  DIRECTORY COMMANDER VERSION 1.10
                  ================================

                 Copyright 1991 by Chuck Steenburgh

             DOS Version 5.00 adds many new features to the
        venerable dir[ectory] command.  What makes these new
        options even more useful is the addition of the en-
        vironment variable DIRCMD.  By using DIRCMD, you can
        store your favorite switches for the dir command in
        the environment so you don't have to keep typing them
        on the command line.

             The problem, of course, is that these switches
        are still just as cryptic as ever.  For example, the
        command:

                       dir /og

        means to show all files with subdirectories grouped
        before the files.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  That's
        what I said.

             I wrote DIRECTORY COMMANDER to make life a little
        easier for myself.  Instead of requiring you to spend
        10 minutes looking through your DOS 5.00 manual to rem-
        ember what all those switches are so you can compose a
        SET DIRCMD= line, DIRECTORY COMMANDER will guide you
        through the process of selecting your desired options
        from a simple, menu-driven display.  DIRECTORY COMMANDER
        will then create a small batch file containing the
        options you have selected.  Just execute this batch
        file, and your preferences will be saved to the environ-
        ment.


        STARTING DIRECTORY COMMANDER

             Starting DIRECTORY COMMANDER couldn't be easier.
        Simply type DIRCMDR at the command line.  You will see
        a small box containing the words "DIRCMDr 1.1" at the
        top of the screen, and two larger boxes below.

             The box on the left (surrounded by double lines)
        contains the Directory Options menu.  Select these
        options by pressing the first letter in the option name
        (highlighted in blue on color displays).  Pressing the
        first letter will toggle an "X" off and on next to the
        option.  "X" means that option is currently selected.

             [ ] Pause when full

             This activates the /p switch.  When the screen fills,
             you will be asked by DOS to press any key to continue.



             [ ] Wide format

             This activates the /w switch.  Filenames only will be
             displayed in five columns across the screen.  Has no
             effect if the "File names only" option is selected.

             [ ] Subdirectories

             This activates the /s switch.  In addition to the cur-
             rent directory, all subdirectories beneath it will be
             included.

             [ ] File names only

             This will eliminate all of the "extraneous" information
             from the listing, producing only a list of filenames
             (in the format FILENAME.EXT) with no headers or footers.
             Activates the /b switch.

             [ ] Lowercase only

             This activates the /l switch.  All file and directory
             names will be displayed in lower case.


             The box on the right side of the screen (initially
        surrounded by single lines) contains what I call the two
        "special options."  These are the /a (attribute) and /o
        (order of sort) switches.  This large box is divided into
        two smaller boxes, one for each of these two options.

             This menu operates a little differently.  Like the
        simple Directory Options, "Attributes" and "Order of Sort"
        can be selected by pressing the first letter of their
        names (highlighted in blue).  Initially, both options are
        turned off (no "X" displayed next to option name).  When
        you press the "a" or "o" key for the first time, you will
        activate that option AND the Special Options menu.  Note
        that single lines will now appear around the Directory
        Options Menu and double lines will appear around the
        appropriate portion of the Special Options menu.

             When the Special Options menu is active, you can
        select additional options.  These options appear below
        the words "Attributes" and "Order of Sort."  When you
        select either "a" or "o", the corresponding set of
        special options becomes actives (first letter is high-
        lighted in green).  These options are described below:



        Attributes Special Options:

             Hidden (displays hidden files)
             System (displays system files)
             Directories (displays only subdirectories)
             Archive (displays files needing backup)
             Read Only (displays read only files)

        Order of Sort Special Options:

             Name (sorts by file name from a-z)
             Extension (sorts by extension from a-z)
             Date & Time (sorts by date & time, earliest to latest)
             Size (sorts by size, smallest to largest)
             Files First (displays all files before subdirectories)

             When you select one of the special options, a plus
        sign (+) appears in front of that option.  This turns it
        on.  Selecting the special option a second time puts a
        minus sign (-) in front of the option.  This activates
        the option "in reverse."  For the atttribute options, all
        files which DO NOT possess this attribute will be displayed.
        For order of sort options, the sort order will be reversed.
        Selecting the option a third time will toggle it off.

             As long as the Special Options menu is active, you
        can toggle on/reversed/off as many of the appropriate
        special options as you want.  When you are finished, press
        ESC and the Directory Options Menu will be reactivated.

             When you are done selecting options, and the Directory
        Options menu is active (surrounded by double lines), press
        ESC to exit.  A message will appear in the lower left hand
        corner displaying the SET DIRCMD= string which you have
        created.  This string will be written to a batch file named
        SETFILE.BAT in the current directory.

             Once you are back at the DOS command line, type SETFILE
        and press enter to save your DIRCMD settings to the environ-
        ment.  If you like, copy the contents of SETFILE.BAT to your
        AUTOEXEC.BAT file so these options will be in effect every
        time you boot your machine.

             For those of you who want speedy results, I have in-
        cluded the simple batch file DC.BAT.  DC.BAT starts DIRECTORY
        COMMANDER and then immediately runs SETFILE.BAT, saving you
        a few keystrokes.



        DISCLAIMER

             This program is guaranteed to do absolutely nothing.  The
        author assumes no liability for any damage which may be caused
        to your system, either directly or indirectly, through the use
        of this program.  Use of this program is entirely AT YOUR OWN
        RISK.

             That having been said, I can not imagine any possible
        damage that this program could do to anyone's machine. I will
        further state that it is my experience that this program func-
        tions essentially as described in this documentation.  I assume
        that it will function in a similar manner on your machine.


        REGISTRATION

             This copyrighted program may be used and distributed
        freely for non-commercial